Newport library committee eyes professional fund-raiser
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
NEWPORT — One of the committees working to build a new library and historical society on Main Street is seeking an outside source to organize fund raising.
The advisory committee made that decision Monday night, Chairwoman Ginger Phelps said. A hired fund-raiser will also help establish a timeline for construction, she said.
"Our next step is to hire a fund-raiser," Phelps said. "We believe that with the magnitude of the project that we need a professional to help us raise the money."
Phelps said that approximately $200,000 in donations and in-kind donations has been raised. That includes the architectural work of Anissa Brescia, who has designed the building that will occupy a vacant lot on Main Street. The lot has been vacant since fire destroyed an auto-supply store there 13 years ago.
Brescia has designed an 80-by-90-foot building with a brick front, colonial-style windows and two columns separated by a foyer. It will include a fully functional basement.
The historical society, now located on the cramped third floor of the old Key Bank building, will be revitalized. There will be four glassed-in display areas and two open areas, plus a working room for genealogical research in the basement, Phelps said.
The library will include a computer center, circulation desk, children's area and stacks on the main floor. There also will be an adult reading room in front, complete with a donated fireplace.
"It's really lovely," Phelps said. "It's a beautifully designed building."
The estimated price tag is $1 million, but Phelps emphasized that is only a rough figure.
The building committee has suggested the name "Newport Library & Historical Museum," but that is not yet official, Phelps said.
"We're sort of running with this name," she said.
Phelps credited the people who have raised the $200,000 in donations and in-kind donations.
"The fund-raising committee has been doing community events to keep the project in view, as well as raising money," she said.
Local philanthropist Goodwin O. Gilman provided the land for the building in exchange for the lot presently occupied by the Newport Public Library, on the other side of Main Street. Omar Perry, who died last year, gave fund raising a big boost with a donation of $35,581.
Larry Grard — 487-3288
lgrard@centralmaine.com